Notation
Note: The tunes below are recorded in what
is called “abc notation.” They
can easily be converted to standard musical notation via highlighting with
your cursor starting at “X:1” through to the end of the abc’s, then “cutting-and-pasting”
the highlighted notation into one of the many abc conversion programs
available, or at concertina.net’s incredibly handy “ABC Convert-A-Matic” at

**Please note that the abc’s in the Fiddler’s
Companion work fine in most abc conversion programs. For example, I use
abc2win and abcNavigator 2 with no problems whatsoever with direct
cut-and-pasting. However, due to an anomaly of the html, pasting the abc’s
into the concertina.net converter results in double-spacing. For
concertina.net’s conversion program to work you must remove the spaces
between all the lines of abc notation after pasting, so that they are
single-spaced, with no intervening blank lines. This being done, the F/C
abc’s will convert to standard notation nicely. Or, get a copy of
abcNavigator 2 – its well worth it.[AK]

POCARIVER
BLUES. AKA and see "East Tennessee Blues." Old‑Time,
Breakdown. USA,
West Virginia. An uncommon title
for a fairly well‑known tune, recorded by Clendenin, Kanawha
Valley, West Virginia fiddler
Reese Jarvis (1900‑1967). Charles Wolfe (Mountains of Music, John Lilly ed., 1999) thinks Kanawha
County, West Virginia, fiddler
Clark Kessinger (1896-1975) may have learned the tune growing up in the KanawhaValley. Kessinger re-recorded the
tune in the 1970’s, although the liner notes to his album states that he
learned “PocaRiver”
from Jarvis. His rendition was much more “bluegrassy” by that time and featured
a long pizzicato section. The PocaRiver
is in West Virginia, near Charleston.
Brunswick
358 (78 RPM), Reese Jarvis (1928). County 733, "The Legend of Clark
Kessinger" (learned from Reese Jarvis). Folkways 02337, “Clark Kessinger
Live at Union Grove.”

POET'S GRAVE, THE (Uaigh a'Bhaird). Scottish, Slow Air (3/4 time). A
Major. Standard tuning. AB. "'The Poet's Grave' is a delightful, solemn
dirge, the editor never heard from any other but his father, repeated on his
frist reading Dr. Currie's edition of Burns, which gives such a moving picture
of the bard's fate. No single instrument but the organ can do it full justice,
but it must be delightful with either a full vocal or instrumental harmony"
(Fraser). Fraser (The Airs and Melodies
Peculiar to the Highlands of Scotland
and the Isles), 1874; No. 101, pg. 39.

POINTE NOIRE TWO-STEP. Cajun, Two-Step (4/4 time). USA,
southwestern Louisiana. A Major.
Standard tuning. One part. Raymond Francois (1990) remarks that La Pointe Noire
(named becuase a point of woods in the area near Richard looks dark or black
when viewed from the north) was the site of an old forge. It "had a
reputation for some terrible knife fights in the old days; it was the sort of
place you would visit only if you were invited. This area produced many fine
musicians." Source for notated version: Gervais Quibedeaux and accordion
player Ambrose Thibodeaux (La.)
[Francois]. Francois (Yé Yaille Chère!),
1990; pgs. 258-259. La Louisiane Records LL-119,
Ambrose Thibodeaux.

POITIN STILL, THE. Irish, Air (6/8 time). D Major. Standard
tuning. One part. Poteen, or poitin, is an alcoholic drink distilled from
potatoes, and often the drink of the poor (since it could be brewed at home
from available ingredients) in Ireland
in the 19th century. Roche Collection,
1982, vol. 3; No. 6, pg. 2.

POLDUILLYBRIDGE. Scottish, Reel. A Major (Walker):
D Major (Kerr). Standard tuning. AAB. Composed by Alexander Walker of Huntly in
Strathbogie, prior to his emigrating to America.
J. Murdoch Henderson said it was the only composition of Walkers to have found
popularity, however, the Walker collection was circulated apparently in CapeBreton in the mid-20th
century and a few other tunes have entered repertoire there (see “George Gordon’s
Strathspey”). Kerr (Merry Melodies),
vol. 1; No. 4, pg. 24 (appears as "PoldwillyBridge"). Walker
(A Collection of Strathspeys, Reels, Marches,
&c.), 1866; No. 8, pg. 3.

POLECAT BLUES. Old‑Time, Breakdown. USA;
western North Carolina. D Major.
Standard tuning. AAB. The tune is usually credited to fiddler Tommy Magness
(1911-1972), who played with Bill Monroe, Roy Acuff, and Fiddlin' Arthur Smith.
Magness was born in north Georgia
near the southeastern Tennessee
border and first recorded the melody as a member of Roy Hall's Blue Ridge
Entertainers. Heritage 054, SmokeyValley Boys ‑ "Brandywine
'83: Music of French America"
(1984).Heritage XXXIII, Benton Flippen (The
Smokey Valley Boys) ‑ "Visits" (recorded at Tommy Jarrell's New
Years Eve party, 1972). Rounder 0213, The Chicken Chokers ‑ "Chokers
and Flies"(1985). Yodel-ay-hee
Records 014, The New Dixie Entertainers - "Maybelle Rag."

POLK COUNTYBREAKDOWN. Old‑Time, Breakdown. USA, Missouri. A Major. Standard tuning.
AA’BB’. Composition of the tune has been credited to Tommy Magness, who
recorded it in the 1940s while playing with Roy Acuff's Smoky Mt. Boys. In 1947
he recorded the tune again on a home disc recorder under the title “Death of
Kilroy.” Magness may have reworked an older tune however, for elsewhere he is
only credited with being the arranger. “Polk County Breadown” is one of ‘100
essential Missouri tunes’ listed
by Missouri fiddler Charlie
Walden. Source for notated version: Lee Stoneking (1907-1989, Henry County,
Missouri) [Beisswenger & McCann]. Beisswenger & McCann (Ozark Fiddle
Music), 2008; pg. 144. Big K Studio, Lee Stoneking
– “Echoes of the Ozarks” (c. 1970’s).Heritage
060, Art Galbraith ‑ "Music of the Ozarks" (Brandywine,
1984).

POLKA. A couple-dance form from central Europe which
found favor and spread in the mid-19th century, from 1844 onwards. Paul Gifford
communicates that a leading dance master from New York,
Allen Dodworth, claimed in a book he penned that he had introduced the polka to
the society of that city in 1843. Dodworth had just returned from Paris
where he learned the dance, and where he repeatedly went to learn the newest
fashions. The title page to the “Jenny Lind Polka,” published in 1844, states
that it is “as played by Dodworth’s Coronet Band.” The form found its way into
Irish traditional music and was especially popular in the South-West of the
country.In Scotland
the polka is catagorized as a Circle Dance along with the waltz, the various
forms of the mazurka, varsovienne and schottische. The Polka was not introduced
to the country districts of Shetland until after 1890 (Flett & Flett,
1964).

POLL HA'PENNY (Maire Na Leat-Pingin/Pingean). AKA and see "Carolan's Dream," "Brian the Brave [1],” "Garraí na bhFéileóig (Garden of
Butterflies),” “Holey
Ha’Penny/Halfpenny,” "Molly
Halfpenny/Ha'penny," "Molly
MacAlpin," "O'Carolan's
Farewell to Music," "Paul
Ha'Penny," “Remember the Glories
of Brian the Brave.” Irish, Hornpipe, Long or Set Dance (4/4 time). A
Dorian (Mulvihill). Standard tuning. AB (O'Neill/1915 & 1001): AAB
(O'Neill/1850): AABB (Mitchell, Mulvihill, O'Neill/Krassen). The dance version
of the air “Molly MacAlpin,” composed by ancient harper Laurence O’Connellan,
born at Cloonmahon, CountySligo,
in the mid-17th century (c. 1645) or by harper William Connellan (O’Sullivan, ‘’”Carolan’’’,
p. 289). Donal O'Sullivan in his Carolan biography (vol. 1, p. 18) reported
that the Irish harper and composer O’Carolan (1670-1738) thought so highly of
this tune that he was supposed to have said he would rather have been its
composer than any of his own melodies. Ciaran Carson, in his book Last Night’s Fun (1996) thinks it may be
possible that the title “Poll Ha’penny” may have derived from the English title
“Holey Ha’penny,” since the word poll in
Irish means ‘hole’. Donal O’Sullivan (‘’’Carolan,’’’ 1958, p. 290) says that the
title derived from the original name of the tune, “Molly MacAlpin,’’’ because MacAlpin
became ‘Halpin’ and thence ‘Halfpenny.’ See “Molly Macalpin” for more on the history
of this tune. See also the related English tune “The Radstock Jig.” The famous uilleann
piper Patsy Tuohey, one of Francis O’Neill’s informants, recorded this tune on
an Edison cylinder. It was recorded in modern times by
whistle player Mary Bergin under the title “Garraí na bhFéoleóig (Garden
of Butterflies). Mulvihill (1st Collection), 1986; No. 7,
pg. 120 (appears as “Pol Ha’penny”). O'Neill (O’Neill’s Irish Music), 1915; No. 397, pg. 190. O'Neill (Krassen),
1976; pg. 208. O'Neill (Music of Ireland: 1850 Melodies), 1903/1979; No.
1783, pg. 333. O'Neill (Dance Music of Ireland:
1001 Gems), 1907/1986; No. 983,
pg. 169. Bellbridge Records, Bobby Casey – “Casey in
the Cowhouse” (1992. Originally recorded 1959). Mulligan MUL 027, Martin
O’Connor - “A Connaughtman’s Rambles.” Piping Pig Records PPPCD 001, Jimmy
O’Brien- Moran – “Seán Reid’s Favourite” (1996).

POLLY ANN. AKA and see "Pretty
Polly Ann" (?). Old‑Time, Breakdown. USA,
Alabama. In the repertory of Alabama
fiddler Monkey Brown (1897‑1972). It was also listed in the Northwest Alabamian of August
29, 1929, as one of the tunes likely to be played at an upcoming
convention (Cauthen, 1990).

POLLY GRAND. AKA – “Polly Grant.” Old‑Time, Breakdown. USA,
Kentucky. A Major/Mixolydian.
AEae tuning. AABB’. In the repertoire of John M. Salyer (1882-1952), who is the
only musician known to have played it, according to Jeff Titon (2001). The name
of the tune has been heard as the distressed title “Pollygram.” The tune may
have been listed on an old label as “Polly Grand father’s tune,” which may mean
‘grandfather’s tune’ or ‘father’s tune.” Bruce Green listed it on his Berea
tape as “Polly Grand.” Source for notated version: John M. Salyer
(Salyersville, Magoffin County, Ky., 1941) [Titon]. Titon (Old Time Kentucky
Fiddle Tunes), 2001; No. 127, pg. 154. BereaCollege
Appalachian Center AC003, “John M. Salyer: Home Recordings 1941-42” (1993).
Yodel-Ay-Hee 003, “Dirk Powell and John Hermann” (1992).

X:1

T:Polly Hopkins’ Waltz

D>D F>F A>A |
f2d2 (3dcd | e2g2 (3cBc|d4 :|

|:
(3dcd|e2g2 (3cBc | d2f2 (3dcd | e2g2 (3cBc | d2f2 z2 |

D>D F>F A>A | f2d2 (3dcd |
e2g2 (3cBc | d4 :|

POLLY
IN THE KITCHEN. Old-Time, Breakdown. A banjo tune
played by Howard Hall of Hillsville, Carroll County,
Virginia, that Mike Yates (2002) thinks
reminiscent in parts of “Cotten-Eyed
Joe [1].” Hall sang this verse to the melody:

POLLY PUT THE KETTLE
ON [1]. AKA and see “Barney Leave the Girls Alone,”
"Jenny's Bawbee." Irish,
English; Reel. A Dorian (Roche): D Major (Hardings): D Major {'A' and 'B'
parts} & A Dorian {'C' and 'D' parts} (Kennedy, Raven). Standard tuning.
AABB'CCDD' (Kennedy, Raven): AABB (Hardings): AAB (Roche). The collector John
Glen (1891) finds an early printing of the tune in Dale's Variations for the Pianoforte (1794) and remarked itbecame at that time "very popular with
young ladies." O’Neill (1913) relates that a London
uilleann piper, one Thomas Garoghan, enthused his audiences by the trick of
uttering intelligibly on the chanter “Polly put the kettle on.” One of the
oddest appearances of the tune is on the barrel organ from the polar expedition
of Admiral Parry of 1810. In place of a ship’s fiddler (common in those days),
Parry introduced a barrel organ on board ship to provide entertainment and a
vehicle to which the men could exercise (i.e. by dancing). “Polly Put the Kettle
On” was one of eight tunes on barrel no. 1. Donegal fiddler Danny O’Donnell
recorded the tune in the 78 RPM era, first in a set of three Highlands
(followed by “The Bundoran Highland” and “Niel
Gow’s Wife [1]”). He called the set “The Thistle and Shamrock.” Hardings All Round Collection, 1905; No.
10, pg. 4. Kennedy (Fiddlers Tune Book),
vol. 1, 1951; No. 51, pg. 25. Raven (English
Country Dance Tunes), 1984; pg. 162. Roche
Collection, 1982, vol. 1; No. 196, pg. 75. Saydisc
SDL 234, Parry’s Barrel Organ (vol. 11 in the Golden Age of Mechanical Music).

POLLY PUT THE KETTLE
ON [2]. AKA and see "Molly Put the Kettle On [1],"
"Granny Will Your
Dog Bite?" Old‑Time, Breakdown. USA;
east Tennessee, western N.C.,
north Ga. G Major (with flat 7th) {Ford}: D Major {Silberberg, Spandaro}.
Standard tuning. ABC (Silberberg): AABB (Ford, Spandaro). Identified as a
common East Tennessee tune. The tune was played by Wiley
Harper (Monroe, Ga.)
in an April, 1913, Atlanta, Ga.
fiddlers' contest, according to the newspaper the Atlanta Journal.

POLLY PUT THE KETTLE
ON [3]. Old‑Time, Breakdown. USA;
western North Carolina. G
Mixolydian/Dorian. Standard tuning. AABB (Phillips): ABB'B' (Krassen). The
tonality shifts between modes in these variations, with the 'b' note being
variously flat and natural. Source for notated version: Manco Sneed, attributed
to his father John Sneed (Graham County, North Carolina) [Krassen]; Marcus
Martin (Ararat, North Carolina)
[Phillips]. Krassen (Masters of Old Time
Fiddling), 1983; pg. 124‑125. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), vol. 1, 1994; pg. 185.

POLLY PUT THE KETTLE
ON [4]. AKA and see "Polly's Mountain Kettle." G Dorian.
Standard tuning. AABB. The 'B' part is irregular. Does not appear to be related
to version #3. Source for notated version: Byard Ray [Phillips]. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), vol.
1, 1994; pg. 186.

POLLY PUT THE KETTLE ON [5].English, Reel. G Major. Standard tuning. AABBCC. Source Charles (or
sometimes George) Baldwin (b. 1827) was an elderly charcoal burner and fiddler
aged 88 years in 1910 when he was visited by Cecil Sharp, who noted several
tunes from him. At the time the old fiddler was living in the Alms Houses of
Newent, Gloucestershire, a town he had lived in most of his life. In younger
days he was the fiddler for the Clifford Mesne’s Morris, although by that time
all the team members had died, and the team disbanded some 40 years prior.
Sharp said in his notes from the visit:

As at Mayhill they processed from place to place in column formation,
top left

being flagman and top right swordman. The former had a large flag
peculiar to

the village which he waved in time with the music, and the latter two
swords

which he whirled round his head with the lilt of the music. He also
danced the

sword dance (swords on the ground) to the tune of Greensleeves. Baldwin

used to play at all the Wakes and gave me some interesting tunes (see
tune

book). He played me Pop Goes the Weasel and described figures which were

the same as usual. He said he had known the tune since he was a boy and
that

it wasn’t a new one then. He was quite positive on this point.

***

Baldwin’s youngest son,
Stephen, was also a fiddler and played for the Bromsberrow Heath
(Worcestershire) morris side. He inherited his father’s fiddle, which had been
bought at a music shop in Hereford,
and Stephen later passed it to his own son. Source for notated version: Charles
(George) Baldwin, Newent, Gloucestershire, 1910, via collector Cecil Sharp
[Callaghan]. Callaghan (Hardcore English), 2007; pg. 46.

X:1

T:Polly Put the Kettle On [5]

M:4/4

L:1/8

R:Reel

S:George Baldwin, Newent,
Gloucestershire, 1910

N:Noted from Baldwin
by Cecil Sharp

K:G

gfed efge|dcBA Bcd2|gfed efgg|fgaf
g4:|

|:gabg afd2|efge dB G2|ABcA
dBGB|cAFA G4:|

|:BcdB cde2|ABcA Bcd2|G3B cBAd|BGAF
G2G2:||

POLLY PUT THE KETTLE ON [6].Old-Time, Breakdown. USA, Missouri. D Major. Standard tuning. AA’BB.
Unrelated to the “Polly Put the Kettle On” versions above. Source Bob Holt,
seemed to equivocate a bit on where he learned the tune, and what the title
was, but believed he picked it up from a radio broadcast of regionally famed
fiddler Lonnie Robertson. Beisswenger & McCann (2008) point to similarities
with the Ozark tune “Minnie Put
the Kettle On,” so there may have been some confusion. Source for notated
version: Bob Holt (1930-2004, Ava, Missouri), [Beisswenger & McCann].
Beisswenger & McCann (Ozark Fiddle Music), 2008; pg. 64. Rounder CD 0432, Bob Holt – “Got a Little Home to Go to”
(1998).

POLS. Norwegian, American; Dance Tune (3/4 time). Norway,
Central Norway. USA,
Wisconsin. A Minor ('A' part)
& G Dorian ('B' part). Standard tuning. AA'BB'. Pols is a name for a form
of dance in central Norway.
Accents for a pols come on the first and third beats, unlike a waltz which is
accented on the first beat alone, and eigth notes are played in a dotted
rhythm. Reiner (Anthology of Fiddle
Styles), 1979; pg. 58.

POLTHOGUE
(JIG). AKA – “Pothogue Jig.” AKA and see
"Humors of Ballymanus,"
"Jig Polthogue," “Newton
Lasses,” "Pilib McCue." Irish,
Slip Jig. C Major (Kerry, Coly/Ryan); D Major (Kennedy, Levey). Standard
tuning. AAB (Levey): AABB (Kerr): AABBCC (Cole, Kennedy, Ryan). A polthogue
means a blow, as from a brawny fist: fighter Gene Tunney said of another
heavyweight champion, Rocky Marciano, in 1952, “Like Jeffries,
Marciano has the wallop to lay a man out with a single polthogue.” This jig was mentioned in an
account of one of the old pipers of CountyLouth, a man named Cassidy, as
recorded by William Carleton in his Tales
and Sketches of the Irish Peasantry, published in 1845. Breathnach (1997)
believes the first name of this piper was Dan, and that he was blind. Carleton,
born in 1794, was a dancing master who taught in the 1820’s, and was engaged to
teach the children of the ‘dreadful’ Mrs. Murphy. It seems that Carleton:

***

having spent several nights at piper Cassidy’s
house weighing up the local

dancers …was impelled by vanity to show them
how good a dancer he was

himself. He asked one of the handsomest girls
out on the floor, and, in

accordance with the usual form, faced her
towards the piper, asking her to

name the tune she wished to dance to. Receiving
the customary reply, ‘Sir,

your will is my pleasure,’ Carleton called for
the jig Polthogue. He next

danced Miss McLeod’s Reel with his partner, and then called for a hornpipe,

a single dance, this is, one done without a
partner. It was considered

unladylike for girls to do a hornpipe. The College Hornpipe was his choice

for this dance. (pg. 59)

***

Carleton
again mentions the tune in his Amusing Irish Tales (Simpkin, Marshall,
Hamilton, Kent & Co., London),
published in the mid-19th century. Here he talks about Buckram-Back,
the country dancing master:

***

The Irish dancing-masters were
eternally at daggers-drawn among themselves;

but as they seldom met, they were
forced to abuse each other at a distance, which

they did with a virulence and scurrility
proportioned to the space between them.

Buckram-Back had a rival of this
description, who was a sore thorn in his side.

His name was Paddy Fitzpatrick, and
from having been a horse-jockey, he gave

up the turf, and took to the calling of a dancing-master.
Buckram-Back sent a

message to him to the effect that
"if he could not dance Jig Polthogue, on the

drum-head, he had better hould his
tongue for ever." To this Paddy replied,

by asking if he was the man to dance
the Connaught
Jockey upon the saddle

of a blood horse, and the animal at
a three-quarter gallop.

***

The title is among those mentioned
in Patrick J. McCall’s 1861 poem “The Dance at Marley,” the first three stanzas
of which goes:

***

Murtagh
Murphy’s barn was full to the door when the eve grew dull,
For Phelim Moore his beautiful new pipes had brought to charm them;
In the kitchen thronged the girls - cheeks of roses, teeth of pearls -
Admiring bows and braids and curls, till Phelim’s notes alarm them.
Quick each maid her hat and shawl hung on dresser, bed, or wall,
Smoothed down her hair and smiled on all as she the bawnoge entered,
Where a shass of straw was laid on a ladder raised that made
A seat for them as still they stayed while dancers by them cantered.

***

Murtagh and
his vanithee had their chairs brought in to see
The heels and toes go fast and free, and fun and love and laughter;
In their sconces all alight shone the tallow candles bright -
The flames kept jigging all the night, upleaping to each rafter!
The pipes, with noisy drumming sound, the lovers’ whispering sadly drowned,
So the couples took their ground - their hearts already dancing!
Merrily, with toe and heel, airily in jig and reel,
Fast in and out they whirl and wheel, all capering and prancing.

***

“Off She
Goes,” “The Rocky Road,” “The Tipsy House,” and “Miss McLeod,”
“The Devil’s Dream,” and “Jig Polthogue,” “The Wind that Shakes the Barley,”
“The First o’May,” “The Garran Bwee,” “Tatther Jack Welsh,” “The River Lee,”
-
As lapping breakers from the sea the myriad tunes at Marley!
Reels of three and reels of four, hornpipes and jigs galore,
With singles, doubles held the floor in turn, without a bar low;
But when the fun and courting lulled, and the dancing somewhat dulled,
The door unhinged, the boys down pulled for “Follow me up to Carlow.”

A2A (AGF) (AGF) | A2A AGF
Bcd | A2A AGF AGF | B2B B2A Bcd :|

d2d dfd cBA
| d2d (dcd) (fga) | d2d dfd (cBA) | B2B B2A (Bcd) |

dcd fed cBA
| dcd fed fga | afd ded cBA | B2B B2A Bcd ||

POLWORTH/POLWART ON
THE GREEN. Scottish, Air (4/4 time). D Major.
Standard tuning. AABB. The tune was included by Allan Ramsay in his ballad
opera The Gentle Shepherd (1725), and
was also used as the last tune in James Oswald's (1710-1769) “Sonata of Scots
Tunes” (published in his Curious
Collection of Scots Tunes, c. 1739), a variation sonata of which each
movement is a different traditional air. The tune was a vehicle for numerous 18th
century ballad opera songs, and the song is a staple for modern-day
anthologies. In modern times it remains well-known in Scottish country dance
circles. Polwarth on the Green is an ancient Border village in Scotland,
in the region known as the Merse, between the hills and the North Sea.
A wedding custom extent into the 19th century involved dancing
around two very old thorn trees in the middle of the sloping village green, a
tradition derived from the following (quoted from the Hume history):

***

In the time of Robert II (1371-1390) Sir Patrick de Polwarth died,
leaving an only child, Elizabeth,

the last of her race. She carried the broad lands of Polwart and
Kimmerghame into the Sinclare

family by her marriage with Sir John Sinclair of Herdmanston. Their
great-grandson, John Sinclair,

died in the fifteenth century without male issue. The estate of
Herdmanston devolved on his brother,

Sir William Sinclair (from whom the present Lord Sinclair is descended),
but his lands of Polwarth

and Kimmerghame went to his daughters, Marion and Margaret. The
heiresses were young and

beautiful; and among the many suitors that flocked round them, those
that met with the greatest favour

in their eyes were two brothers, George and Patrick, the young Humes of
Wedderburn. The ladies’

uncle, Sir William, fearing that their lands should go out of the
family, not only refused his consent,

but removed his nieces from their castle
of Polwart to lonely Herdmanston,
his stronghold on the

northern slopes of Lammermuir. Though closely immured, they contrived,
by the help of an old beggar

woman, to send a message to Wedderburn. A day or two later, a gallant
train, headed by the two

young lovers, rode over this hills and drew rein beneath the castle
walls. An angry parley followed the

demand for the restoration of their lady-loves; but the “Men o’ the
Merse” were too strong to be

resisted, and Sir William had the mortification of seeing the heiresses
borne away in triumph. The

double marriage was celebrated at Polwarth, and the wedding-dance took
place around the thorn tree.

POOR IRISH BOY. Irish. This melody must have impressed G.F. Handel during his nine
month stay in Ireland as it was copied out in musical setting in a MS book of
his which was in the Fitzwilliam Museum at the turn of the (20th) century
(Flood, 1906).

POOR JOHNNY. AKA ‑ "Poor Johnny's Gone to War"(?) Old‑Time.
The title appears in a list of traditional Ozark Mountain fiddle tunes compiled
by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph, published in 1954.

POOR JOHNNY'S GONE TO
(THE) WAR. AKA and see "Tommy Love," "John Lover('s Gone),"
"John's Lover is Gone," "John the Lover." Old‑Time,
Breakdown. USA; southwestern Va, western North Carolina. D Major. AABBCC ('C'
part added by Malcolm Owen). This southwestern Virginia tune has currency under
several titles. It was in the repertory of fiddlers Kahle Brewer and Taylor
Kimble under this title, and as “Poor Little Johnny Has Gone to the War” from
Bertie Mae Dickins of Ennice, North Carolina. According to one source, the
melody goes back to the time of Confederate cavalryman General Jeb Stuart
during the Civil War (Kinney Rorrer). County CD-2711,
Kirk Sutphin - "Old Roots and New Branches" (1994). Rounder 0010,
"The Fuzzy Mountain String Band" (1972. Learned from Taylor Kimble.).

POOR
LITTLE MARY, SITTING IN THE CORNER. Old‑Time, Breakdown. USA,
Mississippi. A Major. AEae tuning. Tom Rankin (1985) could find no recorded or
printed versions of this tune, which sounded to him like a children's gane song
"with its narrow melodic framework in the coarse phrase." Enos Canoy,
the source, learned the tune from his uncles, Love Kennedy and Robert Runnels
of Simpson County, Mississippi. Mississippi Department
of Archives and History AH‑002, Enos Canoy and the Canoy Band ‑
"Great Big Yam Potatoes: Anglo‑American Fiddle Music from
Mississippi" (1985. Originally recorded for the Library of Congress in
1939).

Ford (Traditional Music in America), 1940; pg. 79 (Ford also prints
different words for a song called "Robinson Crusoe," to a different
jig tune).

POOR OLD SOLDIER. AKA and see "The Old
Soldier [1]," "Poor Old
Robinson Crusoe," "The
Rogue's March [1]." American, March (6/8 time). USA, southwestern Pa.
G Major. Standard tuning. AB. Both duple and triple-time versions of the tune
exist. Once a secular song tune it has, since 1750, been the regualtaion
drumming‑out of the ranks tune for offenders in the British army, and
hence has acquired the title of "The Rogue's March." In America it
became one of the regulation camp duty tunes for fifers, one of the only ones
collected from Pennsylvania fifers states Bayard (1981). Flute player Henry
Beck, who left a post-Colonial period manuscript, gives the tune as “Poor Old
Tory.” Lyrics set to the tune go:

POOR ROBIN'S MAGGOT.
AKA and see "Would You Have a Young Virgin
(of Fifteen Years)." English, Air (6/8 time). B Flat Major. Standard
tuning. One part. This air appears in Playford's Dancing Master (vol. ii), D’Urfey’s Pills to Purge Melancholy (vol. 1, 1719), and the many ballad
operas, including The Beggar's Opera (1728,
where it appears under the title "If the heart of a man is deprest with
cares"). The word ‘maggot’ means a trifle, a plaything; from the Italian
maggioletta. Chappell (Popular Music of
the Olden Times), vol. 2, 1859; pg. 116.

X:1

T:Poor
Robin’s Maggot

M:6/8

L:1/8

S:Chappell
– Popular Music of the Olden Time(1859)

Z:AK/Fiddler’s
Companion

K:B_

D/E/|F>GF
F>GF|B2F F2 D/E/|F>GF F>GF|c2F F2 D/E/|F>GF F>GF|

B2F
c2F|d>cB FBA|B2B, B,3|d>cB d>cB|c2F F3|d>cB d>cB|

e>de
c3|d>cB d>cB|e>dc e>dc|d>cB FBA|B2 B, B,2||

POOR SOLDIER [1], THE. English, Jig. England, Dorset. D Major. Standard tuning.
One part. The Poor Soldier is the name of a two-act comic opera that became immensely
popular in Britain, Ireland, and even the United States. The play was by John
O’Keefe, but music was composed and arranged by William Shields. The finale of
the work showcases a tune by the blind Irish harper Turlough O’Carolan
(1670-1738), “Planxty Connor” (“Planxty Mrs. O’Conor”). An
early publication of the tune appears in 1799 by Thomas Calvert, a musician
from Kelso, Scotland. A note with his collection states that Calvert supplied
“a variety of music and instruments, instruments lent out, tun’d and repaired.”
Trim (Thomas Hardy), 1990; No. 93.

POORTITH CAULD.
Scottish. The melody alternates between major and relative minor tonality.

POP ALONG. English, Polka. Topic TSCD 669, Willy Taylor (et al) – “Ranting and Reeling:
Dance Music of the north of England” (1998. Taylor {b. 1916} was a shepherd,
and a fiddler and melodeon player from Wooler, Northumberland).

POP GOES THE WEASEL.
English, American, Canadian; Reel or Country Dance Tune (6/8 time). USA; Maine,
New Hampshire, New York State, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Alabama, Kentucky,
Arizona. England, Shropshire. G Major (most versions): D Major (Burchenal).
Standard tuning. One part (Bronner, Burchenal, Shaw): AB (S. Johnson, Kennedy,
Raven, Sweet): ABB (Jarman): AABB (Ashman, Karpeles, Ruth, Sharp). The weasel
was a metal tool used by hat makers in England. Originally the term ‘popped’
meant pawned in England, indicating a tradesman who was so down on his luck he
would need to pawn his tools (Ful, Randolph). Reginald Nettle, in his book Sing a Song of England (1954) deciphers
one verse of the song that goes with the tune in this context:

***

Up and down the City Road,

In and out the Eagle,

That’s the way the money
goes;

Pop goes the weasel.

***

“There
is no sham in the song,” writes Nettle, “vulgar though it may be. The Eagle in
the City Road, London, was a music-hall, a centre for inebriation and popular
song. Like so many satirical poems originally intended for adults, it now
remains to us as a children’s song. Anyway, it did no harm” (pg. 232).

***

In
America, however, the implement meaning of ‘weasel’ was lost, and it was
generally thought to refer to an animal. Linscott (1939) maintains the tune was
once an accompaniment to a dance or old English singing game and was popular
with children as far back as the early 17th century. He claims the origin is
unknown, but that it was introduced in New England as a contra dance and
"remains a great favorite." In fact, although the melody is assumed
to have some antiquity, it was possibly first published under the title
"Pop Goes the Weasel" in London in March, 1853 (as an "old
English dance"), though American versions have been found also published
in 1853 (Fuld, 1971). Bayard (1981) identifies his unusual Pennsylvania
collected versions as being derived from the 19th century English popular
ditty, though he demurs in printing the standard sets he encountered saying "the
printings of it must be innumerable." Burchenal prints the dance of the
same name in her New England collection along with the tune. Page and Tolman
state in their Country Dance Book that "The Devil hates holy water no less
than the Yankees hate the thought of Pop Goes the Weasel done as anything but a
contry (sic)" (pg. 94). The melody has wide currency in America as a play‑party
song as well as a song and fiddle tune, and was known to the minstrel stage.

***

“Pop”
has often been mentioned in print and frequently recorded in American culture.
It was a favorite piece of both armies in the American Civil War, and, for
example, appeared in Boston publisher Elias Howe’s United States Regulation Drum and Fife Instructor (1861). It was
recorded for the Library of Congress by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph,
from Ozark Mountain fiddlers in the early 1940's. African-American fiddler Cuje
Bertram (Cumberland Plateau region, Kentucky) recorded the tune on a home
recording made in 1970 for his family; with interesting melodic variations.
“Pop” was cited as having commonly been played for Orange County, New York,
country dances in the 1930's (Lettie Osborn, New York Folklore Quarterly) and at Arizona dances at the turn of
the century (Shumway, 1990). It was in the repertoire of Buffalo Valley, Pa.,
region dance fiddler Harry Daddario in the mid-20th century. The tune was
listed in the Northwest Alabamian of August 29, 1929, as one of those likely to
be played at an upcoming fiddlers' convention, and by the Tuscaloosa News of
March 28, 1971 as a specialty of "Monkey" Brown of that city, who
competed at fiddlers' contests in the 1920's and 30's (Cauthen, 1990). The
melody was listed as one in the repertoire of Maine fiddler Mellie Dunham (The
elderly Dunham was Henry Ford's champion fiddler in the late 1920's), and it
was in the repertoire of West Virginia fiddler Edden Hammons.

***

Laura
Ingalls Wilder, in her popular children’s book Little House in the Big Woods,
mentions the tune in a short passage:

***

For a special birthday
treat, Pa played "Pop Goes the Weasel" for her.

He sat with Laura and Mary close against his
knees while he played.

"Now watch,"
he said. "Watch, and maybe you can see the weasel pop

out this time". . .
Laura and Mary bent close, watching, for they knew

now was the time.
"Pop! (said Pa's finger on the string) Goes the weasel!

(sang the fiddle, plain
as plain.)"But Laura and Mary
hadn't seen Pa's

finger make the string
pop. "Oh, please, please, do it again!" they begged him.

***

“Pop
Goes the Weasel” was whistled during the practicing of the morris dance All the
Winds, although the dance is done to the rattle of the bones (Raven, 1984, pg.
92).

***

“Pop
Goes the Weasel” was the vehicle for many virtuoso and comic fiddler’s to
display their prowess on the instrument. The famous Norwegian violinist Ole
Bull (1810-1880) is said to have performed a very flashy, gymnastic, virtuoso
version of the melody as part of his act, which consisted mainly of his own compositions
and Norwegian folk songs. He toured the United
States in 1843, returning four more times, and
became a very influential musician in areas where better musicians were seldom
heard (see note for “Ole Bull
Hornpipe”). American fiddlers also played the piece as a ‘trick’ fiddle
showcase: "The tune was one that fiddlers across the South delighted in
playing at contests. It was customary to begin with the violin held in a normal
position, then, upon reaching the word 'Pop' in the song to pluck a string and
shift the instrument to a radically different position, swiftly and smoothly,
without losing a beat of the music. The more contorted the position, and the
smoother the transition, the louder the applause" (Cauthen, pg. 137).
Sources for notated versions: Willie Woodward (Bristol, N.H.) [Linscott]: Floyd
Woodhull, 1976 (New York State) [Bronner]: Joseph Pardee (Indiana County, Pa,
1952), Harry Kessler (Westmoreland County, Pa., 1944) and Edgar Work (Indiana
County, Pa., 1949) [Bayard]; caller George Van Kleeck (Woodland Valley,
Catskill Mtns, New York) [Cazden]; a c. 1837-1840 MS by Shropshire musician
John Moore [Ashman]. Ashman (The
Ironbridge Hornpipe), 19 91; No. 37b, pg. 12. Bayard (Dance to the Fiddle), 1981; No. 631A‑C, pg. 553. Bronner (Old Time Music Makers of New York State),
1987; No. 16, pg. 79. Burchenal (American
Country Dances, vol. 1), 1918; pg. 22. Cazden (Dances from Woodland), 1945; pg. 5. Cole (1000 Fiddle Tunes), 1940; pg. 24 (in 6/8 time). Ford (Traditional Music in America), 1940; pg.
40. Jarman, 1944; pg. 17. S. Johnson (The
Kitchen Musician No. 6: Jig), 1982 (revised 1989, 2001); pg. 1. Karpeles
& Schofield (A Selection of 100
English Folk Dance Airs), 1951; pg. 4. Kennedy (Fiddlers Tune Book), vol. 1, 1951; No. 39, pg. 20. Linscott (Folk Songs of Old New England), 1939;
pg. 108. Raven (English Country Dance
Tunes), 1984; pg. 166. Ruth (Pioneer
Western Folk Tunes), 1948; No. 3, pg. 3. Sharp (Country Dance Tunes), 1090/1994; pg. 5. Shaw (Cowboy Dances), 1943; pg. 393. Sweet (Fifer’s Delight), 1965/1981; pg. 17. Thomas & Leeder (The Singin’ Gathering), 1939; pg. 88. Maggie’s Music MMCD222, Bonnie Rideout – “Scottish Fire”
(2000). Edden Hammons Collection, Disc 2.PearlMae
Muisc 004-2, Jim Taylor – “The Civil War Collection” (1996. Converted into a
4/4 reel).

X:1

T:Pop
Goes the Weasel

M:2/4

L:1/8

S:Shaw
– Cowboy Dances(1943)

Z:AK/Fiddler’s
Companion

K:G

D|G>G
AA|(3BdB G>D|G>G A>c|B2 G>D|G>G A>A|(3BdB G2|ez A>c|

B2
G>d|g>f g>e|(3faf d>d|g>f g>e|f2 d>d|c>B c>d|e>f
g2|ez A>c|G2G||

POP IT WITH YOUR THUMB.
Old‑Time. The title appears in a list of traditional Ozark Mountain
fiddle tunes compiled by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph, published in
1954.

POP THE QUESTION.
Old‑Time. The title appears in a list of traditional Ozark Mountain
fiddle tunes compiled by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph, published in
1954.

POP WEIR TUNE. American,
Breakdown. USA, New York. A Major. Standard tuning. One part. "Pop"
Weir (d. 1965) was the name of a renowned fiddler in central New York State.
Bronner (1987) says the tune he has found which is closest to this is a
Pennsylvania-collected melody, "The Old Cow Crossed/Crossing the
Road." Bayard confirmed that Pop Weir Tune was a simplified version of
that Pennsylvania tune, which probably began life as a song melody. Source for
notated version: Ken Kane, 1976 (New York State) [Bronner]. Bronner (Old-Time Music Makers of New York State),
1987; No. 33, pg. 125.

POPLAR BLUFF.
Old‑Time, Breakdown. USA, Kentucky. The source for the tune is legendary
northeastern Kentucky fiddler Ed Hayley, who influenced many who heard him. The
tune is very difficult to play, requiring use of higher positions on the
fingerboard.